SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The UC Santa Barbara women's basketball team defeated UC Riverside 68-52 on Friday night at the Thunderdome as UCSB won its third consecutive Big West game.

Redshirt senior guard Doris Jones' 22 points and senior point guard Danae Miller's career record-tying nine assists helped the Gauchos (5-12, 5-8 Big West) take down a UC Riverside (7-10, 5-8 Big West) team that they hope to leapfrog in the standings for a higher seed at the upcoming Big West Conference Tournament.

UCSB dominated from the tip, putting up 18 points to Riverside's eight in the first quarter, with 11 of the Gauchos' tally coming from Jones on 5-of-5 shooting, including a three-pointer.

The Gauchos regressed from 77.8% shooting in the first quarter to 53.3% in the second, but that was still plenty to sustain the offensive firepower the hosts had shown. Junior guard Taylor Mole and Miller scored six points apiece, freshman guard Anya Choice had five, and Jones added a layup to maintain and extend UCSB's lead despite an offensive resurgence from Riverside in the second frame. The Gauchos went into the half with a 37-23 lead.

UCSB kept a double-digit lead throughout the third quarter and led by as much as 25 at one point, but Riverside chipped its way back into the contest and eventually whittled the lead down to eight with 6:29 remaining in the fourth.

With a renewed sense of urgency, the Gauchos set forth to protect their lead and drew fouls on back-to-back possessions, converting on all four free throws to work the lead back up to 12. A few key defensive stops later, Mole hit a second-chance pull-up jumper and Miller posted a triple with 1:44 left as the blue and gold cruised to victory.

The Gauchos return to action tomorrow evening against the Highlanders, with tip-off set for 5 p.m. The game will be broadcast on Big West TV instead of ESPN3 to allow for the broadcasting of the postgame ceremony honoring the four graduating seniors on the 2021 team: Doris Jones, Natalia Bruening, Mira Shulman, and Bri Anugwom.

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